THE COUNTY'S subdivision committee
put off consideration Thursday of the Pebble Beach Company's
latest development and open space plan to give its staff
more time to consider a large volume of comments submitted
in response to the project’s environmental impact
report, which was released Feb. 4.

"There are potential issues in these letters that need
resolution,” said planner Thom McCue. The key points
in nearly 1,000 pages of comments from citizens, community
and environmental groups, and government agencies include
questions about the project’s water supply, impacts on
Monterey pines and other plants, and changes to the road
network in Del Monte Forest and surrounding areas, he
said.

The P.B. plan, announced in the summer of 2000 by two of
the company’s owners, Clint Eastwood and Peter
Ueberroth, includes a new golf course, equestrian center,
170 hotel rooms, 33 homes and almost 500 acres of dedicated
open space. About 100 acres of forest would be removed to
make way for the golf course and other development.

The plan replaced the previous ownership’s proposal
for more than 350 new homesites; the land was zoned in the
1980s by Monterey County and the California Coastal
Commission for nearly 1,000 homes.

Subdivision committee chair Laura Lawrence said she hadn’t
even “gotten through” all the material the group
was supposed to consider and suggested a postponement to
April 29. But she said members of the public who attended
the hearing would still be allowed to offer their opinions
on the Pebble Beach plan. And they did.

“We support the new proposal because it caps
development in Pebble Beach,” said Paul Woudenberg,
president of the Del Monte Forest Foundation, which would
gain control of hundreds of acres of Monterey pine forest
owned by the P.B. Co. "I don't like to see trees cut. But
this will end development in Pebble Beach, so we can
preserve everything we have."

Ted Hunter, a 20-year resident of Del Monte Forest who
has spearheaded opposition to the P.B. Co. plan, said he
would let others object to its particulars. “What I
object to is the scheduling of the hearings,” Hunter
said. “How can you make informed decisions without a
final EIR, and without the necessary changes to the county's
general plan?"

In November 2000, voters approved Measure A, sponsored by
the P.B. Co., which rezoned property in Del Monte Forest to
make the company's development plan possible. But Measure A
won't take effect unless the California Coastal Commission
accepts it. The commission's staff has already moved to stop
the new golf course, and Hunter doesn't want the county to
process a permit for the course until the commission has had
more time to review Measure A, something coastal commission
officials have also asked for &emdash; presumably to try to
stop the project in its tracks.

“This entire proposal is based on Measure A, which
the coastal commission can chop up and grind up and do
whatever they want,” said committee member Jim
McPharlin.

“I and many other taxpaying property owners join
[the coastal commission staff] in calling for the
county to take action on Measure A now,” Hunter
said.

But senior planner Jeff Main said it was standard
procedure to process zoning changes and projects relying on
them simultaneously. Also, the county has no further action
to take on Measure A, which was OK’d by 64 percent of
voters countywide, and almost 70 percent in Pebble
Beach.

“As far as the county is concerned, Measure A has
already been approved,” Main said.

At the end of the public hearing, Alan Williams, retained
by the P.B. Co. to see its proposal through the permit
process, noted that seven people spoke in favor and three
against.

“That’s about the same proportion we had
approving Measure A,” he said.

He also noted that, while the comments on the EIR were
voluminous--a single letter from activist David Dilworth ran
more than 500,000 words--the number of letters was down to
80 for this EIR from more than 300 for the EIR on the
previous development plan.

“I think that shows that we’re doing what the
public wants us to--; reducing development and preserving
open space,” Williams said.